Invitation to Preview In Pursuit

 In Pursuit, published by Mercer University Press, is available through Amazon and Mercer University Press.

http://www.southern-style.com/Write%20Life/The%20Write%20Life%20Southern-Style.htm.

The pivotal event of this novel was the destruction of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River.  July 27 , 2016, marked the 200th anniversary of the destruction of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River by the U.S. Navy.

“The explosion was awful, and the scene horrible beyond description. You cannot conceive, nor I describe the horrors of the scene. In an instant lifeless bodies were stretched upon the plain, buried in sand and rubbish, or suspended from the tops of the surrounding pines. Here lay an innocent babe, there a helpless mother; on the one side a sturdy warrior, on the other a bleeding squaw. Piles of bodies, large heaps of sand, broken guns, accoutrements, etc, covered the site of the fort. The brave soldier was disarmed of his resentment and checked his victorious career, to drop a tear on the distressing scene.”

– Army and Navy Chronicle. 13 vols. Washington: B. Homans, 1835-1842. Vol. 2, 115.

Just as I did with the prequel to In Pursuit, Swimming with Serpents, I tell the story through several different perspectives involving the main characters in the events of the time through their interactions with the major players. It is also the love story of Joie Kincaid and Godfrey Lewis Winkel to whom you were introduced in Swimming with Serpents. 2016 is the 200th anniversary of the destruction of that fort. 

Officials from the United States, Great Britain and Spain have been invited to commemorate this event. Docents will take groups through the park.  The Fort represents an important Crossroad of History.

This event will be commemorated

Saturday, October 22, 2017
Fort Gadsden
(a.k.a. Prospect Bluff Fort, Nicholls Fort, Blount's Fort, British Post, Negro Fort, African Fort, and Fort Apalachicola)

Directions:

From the intersection of CR 379 (Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway) and SR 65 in Sumatra, drive south on SR 65 for 4 miles. Turn right on Brickyard Road. This access road is unpaved and may have deeply rutted potholes.

Continue 1.5 miles to Brickyard Landing Road. Turn left. Drive half a mile. The entrance is on the left.

See also my article in Panama City Living

http://panamacityliving.com/blog/landmark-slave-resistance/ 

Miss Sharman's Charm School

Miss Sharman's Charm School

My agent, Holly McClure, spoke with Sarge Platz of Seriously Southern Entertainment today. Looks like a reality show, Miss Sharman's Charm School, may be in my future. Mint Juleps and Murder, the novel about two sisters who finagle their way onto the Dishing It Network using their grandparents' plantation house may have been a foreboding of something that may actually come to be! Of a sort. Holly mentioned a cookbook as well!

I  will be the dean of Miss Sharman's Charm School where 12 rough around the edges young men will be trained in the fine art of being a Southern gentleman. A team of experts in the different aspects of Southern manhood is now being assembled.

The pilot will be shot at Wakefield in Wilcox County, Alabama, once our grandparents' home, now owned by my sister Dr. Sylvia Rushing and her husband Tom. We are all excited!